Fantasy (#1250)

                THE PIRATES' PLANET
     Now their journey was nearing its happy end,
       for the Air Sprite pointed out to them,
         through an opportune gap in the encircling stars,
          the tiny Orb that was the Wonder World of Mars;
          and he named them the planets as they journeyed.
         There the sinister cruel world of Chinese legend,
        and beyond that the beautiful Star of DreamsComeTrue,
       till for curiosity they landed on the Pirates Planet,
     which is very famed amongst all the outer worlds.
       (... the fantasy continues ...)
     There they saw the hardy spirits of all the Buccaneers
      and Pirates who sailed the fabled mains.
     Their ships were there also, and on the curving beach
      fronting the sunny seas they buried again
      their gleaming treasures.
       (... the fantasy continues ...)
     And the sea was filled with the glory of their ships,
     and the land with the splendour of their jewels;
     and they fought their ancient and dishonourable battles over again.
     But harmless were these joys,
     for nothing here was real,
     and all was dim and mystic,
     and not more clear than the romantic memory that our Earth holds
      of all those desperate men.
         [William Timlin, THE SHIP THAT SAILED TO MARS, 1923]

if (!this:is_readable_by(valid(caller_perms()) ? caller_perms() | player))
    player:tell(this.not_play_msg);
else
    player:tell(this.play_msg);
    count = 1;
    this:look_self();
    suspend(this.pause);
    for l in [1..length(this.stanzas_msg)]
        lines = tonum(this.stanzas_msg[l]) - 1;
        stanza = this:text()[count..count + lines];
        player:tell_lines(stanza);
        count = (count + lines) + 1;
        suspend(this.pause);
    endfor
    player:tell(this.end_play_msg);
endif
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this:look_self();
player:tell_lines(this.read);
.